Legal Fitments - Not only a 4WD Discussion

Legal vs. Illegal Fitments

Not only applicable to 4WD vehicles

As Australia's largest stockist of wheels and tyres, Bob Jane T-Marts will only support legal fitments on all types of vehicles. This includes passenger, light commercial and 4WD vehicles. It is primarily thanks to our national store network and access to a large range of top brands that we can cover the majority of Australian cars with legal and suitable wheel and tyre solutions.

Although the challenge of legalities is more common on 4WD vehicles, customers should be mindful that there are state and territory regulations that are applicable to passenger and light commercial vehicles modifications, in addition to the more well known regulations on 4WD vehicles. A good place to start looking is at the Vehicle Standards Bulletin 14, which is a National Code of Practice for Light Vehicle Construction and Modification in Australia.

The following links provide access to each state or territory's regulations:

• Victoria
• Queensland
• New South Wales
• South Australia
• Western Australia
• Tasmania
• Northern Territory

In addition to state legislation, Tony Harrison, National Training and Development Manager for Bob Jane T-Marts references the Tyre and Rim Association Standards Manual. It is described on their website as "the “bible” of the industry and a valuable tool for all those involved with tyres and rims, whether from sales, design or technical disciplines."

To demonstrate what to look out for, we took the opportunity to film a real world example of a customer's vehicle that was presented to us with illegal fitments, and more concerningly, a fitment that we would deem unsafe to the customer and potentially other road users. The video series covers the situation that was presented at one of our Bob Jane T-Marts stores. Some planning was put into finding the right solution for the vehicle and in the video series Tony explains what considerations and actions were taken with regards to the legal elements of the wheel and/or tyre fitments. Tony highlights the information on the vehicle placard that needs to be considered and how this translates into the decisions that need to be taken to make sure the modification to the vehicle is not only legal, but also safe.
Note: The wheels and tyres fitted to the vehicle were paid for by the customer.